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Tom Cruise’s Date With Heather Locklear Likely Set Up Because He Was Once ‘Shy and Awkward’
It was the ’80s and Heather Locklear and Tom Cruise were on the way to stardom. She played sassy Sammy Jo on the must-watch nighttime soap Dynasty, while he was hot off Risky Business and about to explode with Top Gun. That’s how the two wound up going on a date, Heather, 63, recently recalled. Speaking during the 90s Con in Daytona Beach, Florida, September 15, the Melrose Place alum revealed that she and Tom, 62, first met at a film audition — which he bombed! “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m terrible. He’s even worse!’” she joked before adding that neither landed a part. Even though she was just a few months older, Heather thought of the boyish Tom as a “little baby,” and was impressed with his good manners when he and Sean Penn attended a gathering at her house. They were “nice,” she recalled, saying “Yes, ma’am.”
Finally, the two decided to go on a proper date. “We went out dancing to Club Lingerie at that time,” she said. (Yes, Tom pulled out his Risky Business dance move!) “He was really cute,” she allowed. “He was very nice to me.”
An insider tells In Touch the date was likely set up in order to draw publicity to Tom. “He was rather shy and awkward back then,” says the source. “His handlers must’ve wanted him to get out there and be seen with girls for publicity and to get people talking about Tom.”
Either way, the California babe didn’t feel the heat from the future Scientologist, adding that he “didn’t quite cut it” in the romance department. She went on to bad boys like first husband Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee and husband No. 2, Bon Jovi’s Richie Sambora. “Tom was so proper, so clean-cut, Heather thought he was a bit of a geek,” says the source. “She liked guys who had an edge.”
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